Chapter 10: Savior

November 15

Ash, Dawn, and Brock all put their hands up, none of them knowing if they should, but felt like it was right anyways. Pikachu was charging up to unleash a thunderbolt attack, but Ash, hovered his foot in front of Pikachu to ward him off. "Good thinking Pikachu," Ash thought, "but that won't help us this time." He didn't dare speak out loud, not when they had multiple guns pointed at them. A grunt with blazing red hair was staring at him with curiosity, which unsettled Ash.

"Did you really think," sneered Jasper, who was slowly walking toward Ash, "that you could really try and run from us?" Dawn's eyes began to water in fright. "I mean, we're Team Rocket, for cryin' out loud!" He drew closer until he was standing inches from Ash's terrified face. "You can't outrun us! We're EVERYWHERE!"

Jasper rammed his knee into Ash's gut, bringing him to the ground as he howled in pain. Pikachu let out a cry of worry, which turned into pain as Jasper kicked him into a nearby tree, knocking Pikachu unconscious. He could hear Dawn screaming, trying to help him, but he saw the other grunts approaching them, rope in their hands. "Shit," thought Ash, "this is it. We're going to die." Somehow, thinking about death made Ash feel better, if only a little.

He saw the red-haired grunt pass Jasper, who had walked off and looked as if he was punching in numbers on his phone. He looked the grunt in the eye; making him feel accountable for his death somehow made him feel better. He advanced toward him as the others already had, rope in his hands.

"I hope you feel good about this," Ash remarked as the red-haired grunt jerked Ash's arms behind him.

"I will soon enough," mumbled the grunt as he began to wrap the rope around Ash's wrists, "because I'm gonna get you guys out of here."

"Go to he- wait, what did you just say?" Ash said.

"I said," mumbled the grunt, who glanced at Jasper still on his phone, "I'm getting you out of this. Just shut up, don't move, and wait for my signal. You'll know what it is when you see it." He walked away, leaving Ash to mull over what he had said. Didn't he recognize that voice?

He looked over at Brock and Dawn, whose heads were drooping in anguish as the grunts, who didn't seem as if they had heard the other grunt, continued to tie the ropes around their wrists. It was then that Ash realized that the rope around his own wrists was loose. Much too loose. He could easily slip his wrists out of the rope, but should he?

And for that matter, was this guy even serious? Was he seriously going to get him and his friends out of this, or was he giving him false hope before he died? He stole another glance at the red-haired grunt, whose back was to him, and suddenly everything clicked. The red hair, the voice, the loose ropes, and the promise to get him out, all of a sudden it made perfect sense.

It was Lance, the dragon master from Johto. And he was very, very serious.

Jasper was now staring at his phone as if he were waiting for it to do something. Ash saw Brock from the corner of his eye, struggling to grab his knife from his belt.

"Brock," he hissed. Brock turned his head to Ash, who was shaking his head as he motioned toward his knife.

"Why not?" whispered Brock, "why shouldn't I-"

"QUIET!" roared one of the grunts. Jasper didn't break his stare with his phone.

There was silence among the seven of them, and all of them except for Lance were staring at Jasper, who was still staring at his phone. "What the hell's your problem?" Ash angrily thought, "Need to pretty yourself up before killing us?"

A voice was then heard from Jasper's phone. "Jasper?" said the voice, which Ash immediately recognized to be as Laina's. "Jasper, what're you-"

"LAINA!" shouted Jasper, who was still holding his phone in the air.

"Must be a video call," thought Ash.

"LAINA, WE GOT 'EM" Jasper continued, "We found the bastards!" He then moved the phone so that the camera was pointing at Ash, clearly helpless as Jasper and the other grunts were whooping and cheering, celebrating their prized capture.

Laina wasn't as excited, however. "How do we know he even has the egg?" she asked, "for all we know, he ditched it somewhere and he doesn't have it."

Jasper's triumphant look quickly faded, but remained smug. "I'll guess we'll find out soon enough." He said with an evil grin. He ended the call and shoved the phone in his back pocket before turning to Ash.

Ash flexed his muscles to make it look like he was struggling. "Give him what he wants," thought Ash, "'cause you don't know what's coming!"

"Now," said Jasper, who was again advancing toward Ash, "I trust that you have something that we're looking for?" Ash didn't know what he should say. "Should I play dumb, or do I come clean?"

He didn't waste any time trying to think about it. "In my backpack," he said, "front pocket, left side."

Lance, still in his guise, walked up to Ash and frisked him, taking his knife, which was in his belt, and pocketing it, not saying a word to him. Ash eyed him as he removed his backpack from his back, but did not return the glance.

He walked away as he was rummaging in his backpack for the egg. He showed no change of emotion as he pulled the egg from his backpack and handed it to Jasper. Jasper then tucked it under his arm as he pulled a pistol from his hip.

Ash shot an alarmed glance to Lance, who still refused to look at him back. "What the hell are you gonna do?" he thought, "how am I supposed to know what to do if you haven't even told me? You never even told me if you're actually Lance!" He resolved then that it wasn't actually Lance – that this was just some look alike, who gave him false hope, who wasn't really going to save his life.

He looked over at Dawn, who was still crying but otherwise looked unafraid. Brock continued to struggle with the rope that kept his hands tied, but to no avail. Pikachu still lay behind him, unconscious. "I'm sorry," Ash thought, "all of you. I'm sorry."

"Now, then," sneered Jasper, "since we have the egg out of the way." He smiled as he pointed his pistol at Ash's forehead. Lance was still unmoving, staring at Jasper, waiting for him to make his move. Ash closed his eyes, ready and waiting for Death's open arms.

He heard the gunshot, but he didn't feel pain. Did he die? He opened his eyes to find himself in the same location, but Lance had his gun pointed at one of the grunts, who lay on the ground. Dead.

New hope had surged into Ash, his hopes for survival suddenly uplifted. Jasper had whipped his gun toward Lance, who was plunging Ash's knife into the second grunt's heart. Ash, realizing what was going on, quickly slipped his hands out of the loose rope and threw himself on top of Jasper, sending him to the ground as the egg and Jasper's gun flew from his grip.

Ash could have picked up Jasper's gun to finish him off, but quickly decided not to. He'd be damned if he was going to kill again. Instead, he dealt a few punches to Jasper's eye, but Jasper pulled a hidden knife from his pocket and slashed it across Ash's face before dealing a punch of his own, knocking him to the ground as Lance was cutting the rope off of Dawn's wrists with Ash's knife.

Jasper was now standing over Ash, bloody knife still in hand. Ash saw Dawn running up to them, clutching the wood axe. Just before Jasper was able to drive his knife into Ash's chest, Dawn swung the axe into Jasper's shoulder, causing him to cry out in agonizing pain.

Ash took the opportunity to kick Jasper in the stomach, causing him to twirl and fall face first onto the ground. Before he could turn himself over, Ash ripped the axe from Jasper's shoulder and hit Jasper in the side of the head with the blunt end of the axe, effectively rendering him unconscious.

Ash stood up and turned around to survey the scene. Brock held the unconscious Pikachu in his arms as he ran towards the egg, which had somehow survived the fall from Jasper's arms. Dawn was staring at Lance, who put his pistol back into his holster. The two grunts lay dead next to each other, face down in a pile of red snow and slush.

It was Dawn that broke the silence. "Is he…dead?"

"Knocked out," said Ash, "but that wound doesn't help any."

"C'mon," said Lance, "we need to get the hell out of here."

"Why?" Dawn asked, "Are there any more of them nearby?"

"No," responded Lance as he handed the knife back to Ash, "but their phones pick up the sound of gunshots and broadcast it to Headquarters. After what just happened, they'll be swooping in any minute. Let's go!"

Ash was grabbing for their bags when Dawn said, "Would you at least tell me who you are?"

"Name's Lance," he responded, "pleasure to meet you."

"Sure doesn't sound like it," thought Ash. They picked up their bags and began jogging away from the murder scene, leaving behind Jasper's pistol and knife. Dawn didn't ask any more questions, although Ash was sure that she was dying to ask them.

They didn't stop moving until Lance said that they were far enough from the bodies. By this point, Dawn was ready to pass out from exhaustion.

"You OK?" asked Lance as he tossed a water bottle to Dawn. She nodded as she gulped the water sloppily, water spilling down her chin as Lance chuckled.

"Now that we're all safe and sound," Brock interjected, "I think it's time for introductions. Dawn, this is Lance Luxforde, from Johto. Lance, this is Dawn."

Lance nodded as Dawn looked at Lance with wonder. "Wait, you're the Lance Luxforde, the Pokémon master?"

"Yep," said Lance nonchalantly, "well, at least I was."

"Wait," said Brock, "what do you mean, was?"

"What I mean is that I left after Team Rocket took over Johto with some bullshit about 'eliminating the tyranny that is Pokémon training.'"

The shock of having learned that Johto was also invaded struck the trainers, Ash particularly. "They took over Johto, too?"

"Not just Johto and Sinnoh," Lance responded grimly, "but pretty much the rest of the world." The expressions of shock grew on everyone's faces. "First it was Kanto, that was a year ago. Then-"

"A year ago?" shouted Ash. "Why in the hell didn't we know about this?"

"Censorship." Lance bluntly replied. "They took control of all forms of communication – telephone, mail…anyways, they intercepted any form of communication and manipulated it to make it seem like nothing was happening."

"So you're telling me that whenever my mother called me or wrote me in the past year, it wasn't actually her?"

"That's right," said Lance, "she's either dead or in hiding, like everyone else in Kanto." Ash buried his head in his hands, unable to bear the thought of her mother being dead, like so many others.

"Which, thanks to Team Rocket," Lance continued, "isn't even called Kanto anymore. Now it's the Eastern Sector of the Rocket Empire."

"And what about the other regions?" asked Dawn.

"Well," explained Lance, "Johto is directly connected to Kanto, so they were overtaken a few weeks after Kanto. That was when I got my ass out and into Hoenn. I was safe there for a while, but then about a month ago they were invaded. It was then that I assumed a false identity and 'joined' the Rocket Empire. Hoenn's the Southern Sector of the Empire."

"Why'd they wait so long to move onto Hoenn?" asked Brock.

"From what I was told," said Lance, "somehow they found out about what was going on in Johto and Kanto. They were taken over not even two days later."

Ash suddenly remembered about one of his friends. "Wait, Lance, do you know what happened to Misty, the gym leader in Cerulean?"

Lance was silent for far too long, suddenly looking melancholy. "No," said Ash, "Lance, please, no!"

"Ash, I- I'm sorry, but she...well, all of the League officials were targeted in the days after the initial invasion. She…she was one of the first that, um, well, you know…"

He nodded in understanding, letting the truth sink in. Misty, one of his best friends for the longest time, was dead, and for what? So this 'Rocket Empire' could have their precious little land?

"Wait a minute," said Brock, anxiety flooding his voice, "my family was running the gym in Pewter City. Don't tell me that they're…"

"From what I heard, they went missing the day of the invasion. That's all that was ever heard of them, but the other League officials from the region were all confirmed dead."

"Except for you," Dawn pointed out.

Lance nodded slowly. "Except for me."

They were all silent for several minutes, no one having anything to say to each other. Ash was going to ask Brock about Pikachu, but before he could Lance hissed, "Get down!"

They all did so, Brock and Dawn hiding behind a bush and Ash and Lance each took refuge behind a tree. Lance poked his head out to see what it was.

"There's two more of those grunts out there." He said. Ash decided to poke his head out and see for himself. Sure enough, there were two of the gray jump suited grunts, both of them holding some sort of radar device.

"Who would they be tracking?" Ash thought to himself. For them? For the dead grunts? He thought about the phones that picked up the surrounding noise. "Wait a minute, Lance was with them. Wouldn't he have the same phone that the others had?"

"Lance," he whispered. He turned his head toward Ash. "Your phone," he hissed, "I think they're tracking it."

It took Lance all of his self-control not to shout every kind of curse word he could imagine. How could he have been so stupid, to leave his phone, fully accessible by Team Rocket, where everyone at HQ could see where he was?

Lance removed his phone from his pocket and stomped on it, crushing it to pieces. From the distance, a faint, "Hey, where'd it go?" could be heard. "So they were tracking us," thought Ash. Lance wordlessly pulled out his gun and shot the two grunts dead.

"What the hell?" Ash hissed, "you couldn't just let them live?"

"No way," Lance returned, "not these guys. Move!"

They picked up their bags and kept on walking, none of them saying a word to each other. Ash had the events of the past two days reeling in his head like a film. The invasion, him killing the grunt, Dawn being stabbed, them almost being shot, Lance coming in…

And then there was Dawn, swinging that axe into Jasper's shoulder, administering a potentially fatal wound. Just a day earlier, Dawn had been objecting to any kind of violence against others, even if their life depended on it. And now she had done just that.

"Hey, Dawn?" Ash said. Dawn, who was walking ahead of him, slowed down to be walking next to Ash.

"Yeah?"

"Um, well I just wanted to say thanks, for the thing with the axe. Earlier, I mean."

"It wasn't much," mumbled Dawn, "I-"

"No, what you did was amazing!" Ash said, "yesterday you wouldn't harm a fly, and you nearly killed that guy today!"

"It was only to save your life," Dawn objected, "I would never do it out of cold blood, like Lance did." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I'm not sure if I even like him. How do you know we can trust him?"

"We've known him for a really long time," Ash said. "Besides, if he really wasn't on our side, he wouldn't have saved our asses back there."

"Hey," said Lance from the front of the pack, "where were you guys headed?"

"Canalave," said Brock, "we were gonna try and catch a boat out of Sinnoh."

"Fat chance," said Lance, "since most of the world has gone to shit. The nearest region that's not under control of the Rocket Empire is the Orange Islands. But boats from there rarely made stops in Sinnoh, and they sure as hell won't now."

"There isn't anything going to Kanto?" asked Brock, "it's very important that we get there."

Lance stopped walking and turned to face Brock. "Look," Lance said, "I'm sorry that I can't tell you anything about your family. Really, I am. But I can't let you go off and try and find your parents. There's no guarantee that you'd make it out of Sinnoh, or into Kanto, or what you'd find there. It's simply too dangerous, you'd-"

"THAT'S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!" shouted Brock, "YOUR FAMILY ISN'T PROBABLY DEAD SOMEWHERE, I CAN'T JUST HANG AROUND HERE AND HOPE THAT THEY'RE ALIVE!"

"My family is dead," Lance said calmly, "and it hurts to say it, but you'd be better off assuming that your family is, too. You're safer with us than anywhere else."

"Well if we're stuck here," said Ash, "then what's the plan exactly?"

"I don't know what you guys are thinking," Lance said, "but the only thing we can really do now is stay in hiding. As for myself, I'm not sure where I'm going.

"Well," said Brock, his anger having subsided, "why don't you stay with us?"

"NO!" Dawn objected, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can trust him. How do we know he actually isn't with this 'Rocket Empire'?"

"Because if I was," Lance responded, "I would've let you die back there."

"Yeah, Dawn," said Ash, "besides, we need him."

"For what?" she cried, "to make a bigger dent in our food supply while we wait to get shot by these guys?"

"That's not gonna happen if I'm around," said Lance. "Besides, I can teach you stuff. Hunting, shooting, things like that. Stuff that you would need to know to survive if I wasn't here."

"We need him for protection, too," said Ash, "because I'm not sure I can do that part on my own." Dawn didn't say anything. She couldn't; she didn't have any other reason why Lance shouldn't stay with them. "It's settled, then. He's staying with us."